Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea are in London and will be chatting about the book they co-wrote, The Book of Gutsy Women, on The Graham Norton Show on Saturday night. But conversation will range far beyond that, taking in the possibility of another presidential campaign, what it was like to work together, and the bullying experienced by the youngest family member.
While promoting The Book of Gutsy Women earlier this year, Hillary was asked about the gutsiest thing she’s ever done, and her daughter had a profound reaction.
Hillary answered: “Personally, make the decision to stay in my marriage.
“Publicly, politically, run for president. And keep going. Just get up every day and keep going.”
Chelsea was visibly moved, taking a moment to reflect and saying she was “overwhelmed” by her mother’s answer.
The family experience a difficult time when Chelsea’s father, Bill Clinton, was president – particularly when an affair with a White House intern emerged.
Bill survived impeachment, and Hillary stood by him.
She then ran for her own presidency in 2016, but lost to Donald Trump despite winning the popular vote.
Tonight on Graham Norton, the mother-daughter duo will delve further into what it was like as a family during these high-profile times.
Speaking of the bullying Chelsea experienced when Bill was elected, Hillary will say: “It was so bizarre. There were plenty of reasons to criticise Bill and me – that’s totally fair game, but why pick on a child?
“It hurt me a lot, but it also bewildered me.
“You expect to be battered bruised a little by what people say, but I think everybody’s kids should be totally off-limits.”
Asked whether she might ever run for president again, Hillary will tell the audience: “I hear the rumours and have been deluged over the last few weeks thinking about it but, right now I am not at all planning that.
“And, if I did I’d have to make up my mind very quickly because it is all moving so fast…
“I’m not going anywhere, I just don’t know what role I will be in.”
And on what it was like to co-author the book, Chelsea will make the shock revelation that her mother wrote all of her parts in longhand!
Hillary will say: “It is a joy to work with her as we were on the same wavelength about who to include, but Chelsea will tell you it was a more challenging process for her than it was for me.”
Chelsea will explain: “I knew my mother wrote longhand, but I didn’t know what it would mean for our collaboration.
“Firstly, I should say that I write on a computer because it is 2019!
“She would send me a photograph of a single page of writing, with all its corrections, as an attachment in an email.
“Arguably, I worked more (on the book) because it took a while to figure out how to decipher her handwriting and how to unlock all the email attachments.
“Her main defence is that she knows other authors that write longhand!”
The Graham Norton Show will air on BBC One at 10.35pm.